CentriKid

Inspiration

Staying Focused During the Summer

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Staying focused during the summer in kids ministry can be difficult. With warm weather, no school, sports, camps and everything else crammed into June and July, summer can be crazy and hectic. Your kids ministry attendance might be lower than normal. For the kidmin leaders, it can be a distracting time as well, or might seem like a less important time since less kids are there each week. I encourage you to do two things:

Encourage kids and parents to prioritize Jesus over any sport, practice, or activity. 

In today’s world, sports and extra-curricular activities are highly esteemed. Which means that parents tend to encourage their kids to do every sport, dance class, or program, and end up having some type of practice or game every single day of the week. For many, this means sacrificing time spent at church learning about Jesus, or even time spent at home in personal, or family, Bible study. Encourage parents and kids to seek out Jesus above all things and to make Him the number one priority in their lives. Reach out to parents through social media, phone calls, or even emails with a challenge to finish out the summer with a new priority on having their kid involved in the kids ministry at church.

Encourage yourself to prioritize Jesus and not check-out. 

It can be just as easy for you to take your mind off the throttle during the summer and coast through it. Constantly remind yourself that the summer season is just as important as any other season. With great times for outreach during the summer, it isn’t a time you want to just slide by. Be intentional, plan out the summer, and engage kids in a whole new way to make them want to come back and learn more about having a relationship with Jesus. Summer can be a more carefree time, but the eternal urgency for the kids is still present during the summer as much as it is during the school year.

Stay focused this summer, and keep pointing kids and their parents toward Jesus. What are some tips and tricks you use to keep your parents, kids, kids ministry, and yourself focused during the summer? 

A Twist on Encouraging Leaders

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Many churches have an annual recognition banquet where dinner is served and a standard gift is given to all leaders. I asked my leadership team about this, and many of them felt that was a bit impersonal. Instead of having that once-a-year event where you recognize all of your leaders, why not start encouraging leaders with something brand new?

1. Get to know your leaders personally.
I have a sheet that I require my leaders to fill out when they begin to work in the kids area. It simply asks about some of their favorite things, and helps me to get to know some details about them. Check out this sample here! You may also choose to designate one night a week to have a couple of your volunteers over for dinner. It may take a whole year to have them all over, but they will surely appreciate you making the effort to get to know them.

2. Pray for your leaders.
Ask them weekly how you can be praying for them. Getting this information can be tricky because they will not all reply to your e-mail or text message, and some of your older leaders may actually require a phone call! One strategy I use is to have a check-in sheet in all of their rooms with these 3 questions: “1. What was the best part of your week? 2. What was the worst part of your week? 3. How can I be praying for you?”
The more you are praying for them and following up with them, the quicker that relationship is formed. I keep a prayer journal with a page for each worker. Also, you might send them a letter at the end of the year and remind them of the many answered prayers from the previous year!

3. Encourage your leaders with notes and small gifts.
Believe it or not, a personal card or letter goes a LONG WAY! I try to encourage at least one leader a week by sending them something in the mail. (I try to do this on Tuesday mornings and set aside 30 minutes to write as many as I can.)
Additionally, you could send a small gift. It’s simple! For example, on that info sheet, one of the questions asks the volunteer their favorite snack. I may have that food waiting in their room with a note. Many times they forgot about filling out the form and are amazed that they got their “favorite” snack!

4. Celebrate your leaders!
Instead of the standard speaker-catered dinner affair, I like to have a big party for everyone. Many times it will include tons of games and activities with prizes like gift cards and things I know my leaders like. The goal of these parties is for everyone to have a good time, get to know other workers and their families, and refocus us on doing God’s ministry! Some great venues for the party are tailgates, in a park, pool party, or even a Christmas party at your house. Getting outside the church walls is the key!

No matter what methods you use, the bottom line is that we must make out leaders feel appreciated. In order to do this we need to get to know them and encourage them in the ways that are meaningful for them. . Persistence and intentionally are keys to building a great team, whether you are leading 5 or 500 people. Encourage them and they will be your best workers!

 

About the Guest Blogger:

PhotoPass_Visiting_Epcot_7473329869Evan Dickson is the Preschool & Children’s Minister at Concord Baptist Church in Anderson, SC, and a professor of Children’s Ministry at Anderson University. He has served as a CentriKid Camp Pastor and Director. He’s been involved in kids ministry for over 15, and is passionate about communicating the gospel to kids in a creative way to help them grow in their relationship with him. He is married to his wife Liza, and they have an 8 year old son, Noah, and a 5 year old daughter, Lainey.

 

Taking Camp Lessons to School

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The new school year has started and you are already taking your kids 100 different directions making it hard to remember the lessons that they learned this summer. How can you help your kids remember to be a disciple of Christ when they can’t even remember their lunch? I have been hugely blessed to grow up in a Christian home, so here are a few ways that my parents reminded me and my sisters how to be disciples of Christ. Try applying some of these to your family’s life as you grow in your faith.

1. A Disciple Encounters God Through His Word
My 8th grade sister’s favorite part of the day is lunch because she gets to talk to her friends and also see if mom packed her any surprises! At camp, we learned that a disciple encounters God through His word and that we are supposed to ingest it like food. Every once in a while slip a surprise snack into the lunch bag and write on a simple verse and note on a napkin that your child can read and be encouraged. On the ride home, talk to your child about how they used that verse during the day or how they were able to share it. Make this into a fun game and you will be surprised how fast your kids look forward to getting a Bible verse in their lunch box.

2. A Disciple Embraces God Through Prayer
Getting to school can sometimes be a hectic production of grabbing homework, packing lunches, and being sure all the kids are in the car. Once you are in the car, take time to say a prayer before dropping them off. The peace that comes from praying before you open the doors and start another crazy day will create a firm foundation for your kids. I still remember my dad praying for my oldest sister and I before we jumped out of the car for school and knowing that God was there with me no matter what happened that day.

3. A Disciple Engages with God Through Giving 
As the kids go back to school, be sure that you are staying plugged into your church. We talked about how a disciple can give both their time and talents to Christ. Show your child that Christ is a priority in your life by being at church. You are the example that your kids will follow and when they see you giving your time to God, they will follow.

4. A Disciple Engages with God Through a Christian Community
Friends are a huge part of school and your children’s lives! Be intentional with those friends and their families. The friends your kids have will shape them and it is important that you invest in their friends.Creating a community of families that would hang out together has been a huge part of my walk with Christ. Having that group of Christian men that I could look up to and the support of so many people has encouraged me to grow as a disciple of Christ.

Parents, you are the number one example that your kids will be following. Starting school can be just as daunting a task for you as it is for them. Be sure to take some time to invest in your kids and their spiritual growth as you both grow as disciples of Christ.

Recreating Your Kids Ministry Space

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Have you ever walked into a kids ministry space and wished you were still a kid?
Whether you are repurposing an old space or touching up an existing one, there are a few things you can do to make the area inviting for your kids, parents, and volunteers.

Add Some Color
The first and easiest way to recreate a space is by adding a fresh coat of paint. This will renew the space and give the whole area a clean look. When choosing colors for a kids area, it can be tempting to find the brightest and boldest colors out there and splash them everywhere. Remember that while your children’s area is a place for the kids to have fun, it is also a place for learning. Check out this color palette to create a fun and inviting area for your ministry.

Classic-Blue Custard Scuba-Blue Strawberry-Ice Tangerine

Good Directions
Part of creating a welcoming environment for your ministry area is to be sure that guests and parents can always find their way through the space. Some of the best ministry spaces I have experienced were created through clear signs and directions. Simply updating the signs around your building can give the entire area a new look and become more welcoming to guests.

Engage with the Kids
In your main children’s worship area, having a system that enables you to run sound and video can be a great asset! Simply putting your logo on the screen and playing music as kids walk in will enhance the experience and get the kids excited for the time ahead. During worship, having the words on the screen or using curriculum such as Worship for Life will help engage the kids in worship. When teaching the kids, it is great to have visuals that reinforce your lessons so showing these as you connect the worship to the gospel will help instill the lessons into the kids.

The idea of recreating a children’s space can seem daunting, but giving the area a new look can help give new energy to your ministry and get your kids, parents, and volunteers excited to hear and teach the gospel!

Fostering Thankfulness in Your Kids Ministry

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One of my favorite holidays is Thanksgiving. It is a time to gather with family and friends and it is always great to reconnect when loved ones live in so many different places.  This is a great time to take a look at your ministry and see if you are fostering an attitude of thankfulness with your leaders, volunteers, and kids in your ministry.

One of the best ways to encourage gratitude in the kids in your ministry is to exercise gratitude in your own life. As you set the example of expressing appreciation, the people around you will want to emulate your generous attitude. Fostering gratitude in the kids that you lead becomes much more attainable when they can see your thankfulness towards others. Genuine gratitude is the goal, not simply reciting please and thank you. And it becomes incredibly difficult to teach kids something that you are not currently practicing. Taking a look at your level of gratitude is the first step in passing on a thankful attitude to kids.

Making kids feel valued is another important step to gratitude. It is very difficult to understand how to show appreciation when you do feel appreciated yourself. Creating a safe and loving environment where kids can be themselves and encounter a community of belonging will allow them to understand that they are appreciated and loved. When they can understand that they are important to you and important to the church, they will be much more inclined to understand the importance of gratitude.

Help the kids make gratitude their own. Each kid comes from different backgrounds and they need to understand what appreciation looks like for them. Asking them to think of people and things that they are thankful for helps them to understand gratitude for themselves. Sharing things that we can be thankful for in the church is a great start to creating gratitude in your ministry. There are many great ways for kids to express thankfulness, and it is important to cultivate a thankful and generous attitude all year long, not just in November.